United News and Notes

A few things to pass along:

-- DCU and Jaime Moreno have finalized a new, restructured contract. Announcement likely next week. No details available at the moment.

-- United Prez Kevin Payne said he would consider allowing Fred to use "Fred" on the back of his jersey instead of the incredibly boring "F. Carreiro" later this season or in 2008. To begin the year, however, we're stuck with the formal label. He is Fred da Silva in the media guide, Fred Carreiro on the uniform and just Fred to anyone who has followed his pro career in Brazil or Australia. Just maddening.....

Payne: "It's just something we don't usually do as a club, but we would consider it. It's something for him to aspire to; he has to convince us he deserves it. For us, it's about what's on the front of the shirt, not the back."

-- On the Fred transfer front, club officials declined to reveal how much they paid Melbourne Victory to get the deal done in time for him to play vs. Chivas. "It's not a big sum of money," Payne said. "They knew we wanted him right away and they felt like they had a little bit of leverage. They started out at a much higher number and we said, 'No, we're not going to do that. If that's the number we'll just wait until the summer.' It ended up at a number we were willing to accept to get him right away."

Dave Kasper: "Fred is sitting there, he's getting pretty disgusted, so we just made the decision, 'Look, let's get this thing done.' It's not something we wanted to pay, but it's not something that's going to break us, by any stretch."

How much did they pay? "It was a number slightly higher than we thought we would have to do, but it's something we're comfortable with," Payne added.

It's definitely less than $100,000, that's all I know.

United has to decide whether the undisclosed fee counts toward its salary cap, a discovery option or if it is taken out of their allocation money. (It's all very complicated in MLS, so don't expect any additional explanation from me.)The last option is unlikely, Payne explained, "because unlike some teams in the league, we actually think allocation money is very important." (That, my friends, seems like a little jab at Salt Lake, which played down the importance of allocation money after sending some to DCU for Freddy Adu.)

On Melbourne wanting a financial settlement, Payne said, "I understand it. I'm sure it was a big blow for them to lose him. They obviously weren't expecting it, although they should have been, and perhaps it could've been handled better on everyone's end, but there is always a point where a player has made up his mind to leave and there's no turning back."

Kasper: "We may have waited this out until June -- there was a real possibility of that -- but it would not have been worth it."

On the future of MLS MVP Christian Gomez, whose contract expires after this season and who is mulling a long-term offer from DCU for $325K per year (according to a source), Kasper said: "Christian is in a situation where he may have opportunities at the end of the year, and we understand that. We've done everything we can to try to keep him, and now we'll wait and see what his decision will be. He may conclude that he wants to wait until the end of the year to make his decision; he's a great professional and he has told me personally that it's not going to change how he approaches his day-to-day business with the club."

On the Gomez storyline, it seems odd to me that given Christian's production level the last two seasons that Payne and company wouldn't offer him a DP salary. While you may have written about this in the past already, I'd love to get your take on this Goff, as I think that Gomez is far better than Twellman, who got near-DP money, with less production. Your thoughts?

"Fred is not better than or bigger than United, so his name should conform to the team naming rules." What a load of poo! Do we think that Fred is suddenly going to turn into a diva just because he gets "Fred" on the back his jersey? First he gets Fred on the jersey, then he's dictating strategy to Tommy. Players should be able to pick what they want on their jerseys, as long as its got something to do with their name. I mean, what's the big deal?

This is just an excellent, excellent quality post from you -- packed with all kinds of relevent information and accompanied with thoughtful analysis, revealing quotes, etc. I know that soccer is still in its nascent stages in the US, but top-notch reporting from you makes it sound and feel like it has been around since the beginning, that it's already ingrained into our culture. In other words, judging from your writing, we Americans DO know what we're talking about re: the beautiful game after all. This kind of a post usurps anything you'll find in the Telegraph or Guardian any day!

Also, a question -- does Moreno's contract restructuring have more to do with performance/age or with freeing up enough space to pay Christian/make a new acquisition down the road?

For the record, Payne also told me that if Ronaldinho played for DCU, he could have "Ronaldinho" on his jersey. I guess world superstars get what they want!

Thanks for the kind words, iammrben. I do not know details of the Moreno deal yet. I think they just wanted to take care of someone who has meant a lot to the organization for 10 years. Perhaps a modest raise...

Gomez deserves big bucks, but at his age, DCU might be cautious about a long-term deal. I'm guessing Gomez is happy with the financial offer (325K) but wants three guaranteed years and then a year option. Again, that's just a guess. (Very, very few players in MLS receive more than one or two guaranteed years.)

Exactly. Since turning pro, Fred has ALWAYS been known as Fred. This is not some made-up, gimmicky ploy to attract attention. He is Fred, just like Ronaldo is Ronaldo and Pele is Pele (the quality of player has nothing to do with). His uniform should reflect it.

His name is Helbert Frederico Carreiro da Silva. I hope Fred chose to have "Fred da Silva" in the media guide.

C'mon DCU - you guys are a top-notch organization...this is bush league stuff. Put "Fred" on the back of the jersey and be done with it. You let Freddy Adu have that ridiculous lower case 'u' on the back - and he hadn't yet proved ANYTHING when he joined the club. Ugh.

Why put the single name "Fred" in every press release and then turn around and stick Carreiro on his jersey (on the other hand, Luciano Emilio has always been known by both names so the one named Brazilian practice did not apply to him). I am not sure what precedent that DCU is using in terms of its jersey naming policy - it is not as if there are a long line of ex-DCU Samba Boyz from which the front office is basing this stance. We are not talking about DCU tring to be like Chivas in their initial year with "Ramon" [Ramirez]and "Ezra" [Hendrickson]on the back of their jerseys. I agree that it is a Marketing opportunity missed by DCU.

I think that DCU may be creating a late season marketing opportunity. Think about the possibilities for a "Fred" day. F. Carriero gets a "Fred" jersey for the first time. Everyone named "Fred" gets discounted tickets/food/drink/jerseys. Maybe on the same day that F. Adu comes to town? F. Smoot could show up for the ceremonial first kick! Talon takes on F. Flintstone in a PK contest! The possibilities really are endless...

"Payne: 'It's just something we don't usually do as a club, but we would consider it.'"

I'm usually a big fan of Payne's decisions and his ethics when it comes to steering the DCU organization, but I think this is a little ridiculous. As other people have said, it's a Brazilian cultural thing. Not to get too soap-boxy, but to deny this is kind of like snubbing the Brazilian futbol culture. "This is how we do it here in America."

On a sidenote - I found this interesting. "It was during the 1994 season that he began to use "Ichiro" instead of "Suzuki" on his uniform. Suzuki is the second most common surname in Japan, and his manager introduced the idea as a publicity stunt to help create a new image for what had been a relatively weak team, as well as a way to distinguish their rising star. Initially, Ichiro disliked the practice and was embarrassed by it, but "Ichiro" was a household name by the end of the season and he was flooded with endorsement offers."

As someone wrote above, it won't turn Fred into a prima donna. Let's say you're from a culture that puts the family name first and the given name last, would you be out of line to ask that the family (1st) name go on the jersey? Payne knows better about the soccer culture than to make an absurd statement like that.

Also, when DC gets a jersey sponsor the the above quote will be so much more accurate.

Minor work visa issues are holding up Kpene's official signing. He is, however, with the club in Mexico. It just means he can't play until the visa is approved -- not that he would appear in anything but reserve games right now anyway.

-- One source tells me that the amount DCU paid Melbourne for Fred's early release was around 25K.

-- Also, don't be surprised if you see DCU and Atletico Mineiro announce a formal partnership in the coming weeks. What will it mean? Perhaps DCU players training -- and playing -- with Mineiro in December-January each year, possibly Mineiro players coming here on loan. Lots of intriguing possibilities. It's a good thing...

"-- Also, don't be surprised if you see DCU and Atletico Mineiro announce a formal partnership in the coming weeks. What will it mean? Perhaps DCU players training -- and playing -- with Mineiro in December-January each year, possibly Mineiro players coming here on loan. Lots of intriguing possibilities. It's a good thing..."

Goff is so full of amazing news that he just throws this stuff in at the bottom of a comments section like it's everyday humdrum stuff! Looks like they have some really talented players coming through CAM (Mancini, Gilberto Silva, Cicinho), so it would be great to their next crop of players practicing/playing up here in DC!

Goffinho does it again. Not the usual tidbits about my team but big juicy morsels of filet mignon!
I have no problems about Fred's jersey and KP's take on it. Hopefully Fred won't either. But I would rather see Fred or Fred da Silva as in the guide.
I can only hope that if Gomito decides 325K is not enough that we offer him DP status for a year at a time. One of the only players worth 500K over the history of this team.
Lastly, for those of you looking for the Meola article, it is buried in the RBNY news archive page. Original post date was 3/26. Best read with the most detail of the articles on google about Bruce's poor treatment of Tony.

I'd like you to ask this question to Kevin Payne--if Melbourne offers Gomez a contract in November (and after we win the championship), will they let him walk, or will they hold him until the end of the year? I bet (even before all this) they would have asked for a transfer fee...

Normally I think Kevin Payne can do no wrong, but he needs to take the stick out of his ass on this one. He should do it for merchandizing reasons at least... Somehow I think we'll be seeing a bunch of "F. Carreiro" jerseys at the next team equipment sale, buried in the box under that Clint Baumstark keeper's shirt.

It is just a name either way. It is strange to say "why does he care?" while at the same time freaking out yourself?
If KP has said no to another player (Luciano has L. Emilio on his jersey) then it would seem like a favor being done to a player that has done nothing for this team yet. Give him time. Having to earn favors is a good way to keep established players from feeling like they are being replaced by the new hyped talent.